(8) Your Choice From List of Prompts

I felt sad when..

I realized that Jay wasn’t really in love with Daisy and just the idea of her and the American dream because I thought it was so cute how much he went through to reunite with her.

Choose a food that represents this book and explain why.

I think that The Great Gatsby can be described as a green apple because for the first second you bite it, it's sweet, but then it becomes very sour. I believe this is a metaphor for the book because when reading the first chunk of the book I believed it was going to be about an innocent love story but it ended up to be much less innocent.

Give three reasons this book should be taught to the whole class.

1. It serves as a reminder that money can't buy happiness.

2. It shows that it is very important to remember that people can be very different in private than in public.

3. It informs us about what life was like 100 years ago. 

   
   

   

   
   

(7) Notes on Text-To-Text Connections

Although Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby have two different plots and themes I immediately thought of how both books involve teen romance in one way or another. Similarly to how Romeo and Juliet couldn’t be together because of their families Gatsby and Daisy couldn’t be together because she was married and divorce was very looked down upon during the 1920’s. 

The Great Gatsby can be connected to 12 Angry Men by the similar attitudes between Juror #12 and Daisy. Juror #12 was extremely egocentric - extremely self absorbed similar to Daisy. 

(6) Analysis of Novel Using Literary Lenses

Historical/biographical lens

The Great Gatsby was based on the roaring 20’s, the roaring 20’s are notorious for the loosening moral values of the upper and middle classes. After the war, people were ready to embrace their economic wealth and freedom - this occurred in the form of large extravagant parties. Of course Daisy and the others took part of this, “Daisy was popular in Chicago, as you know. They moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild”. (Fitzgerald pg. 77) The war creating an economical boom had everyone looking at life in a materialistic way. Jordan Baker cheated to win the golf tournament in an attempt to live the American dream. “There was a row that nearly reached the newspapers - a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round" (Fitzgerald 60).

Psychological lens

Psychology in the 1920’s revolved mainly around Sigmund Freud. Some theories he often discussed were the id/ego/superego and family dynamics. 

These will be the two concepts that I will be relating back to the book. The id is often described as the devil or your instincts. It’s the instinctual part of your mind which is the host of pleasure, impulse, or aggression. The superego is known as the angel or reality. This is the host of values, ethics, and morals. Lastly there’s the ego while is your mature and adaptive side. This is the rational part of your mind. Gatsby can be described as the id and tries to use money to distract Daisy instead of thinking logically. Nick, the superego says “I am one of the most honest people i've ever known”, he is the moral character.

Family dynamics often see the father as powerful, son or uncle as esteemed, grandmother or mother as nurturing and stern, while the daughter or youngest child is often seen as someone who is constantly struggling for power. Daisy is portrayed as the younger sibling who is suppressed by her family and society to marry rich. Gatsby grew up learning the world for himself. The person he looked up to was his first boss - a father figure. 

Gender lens 

The Great Gatsby plays into the stereotype that women are weak, pretty, submissive, and dependent while the men are strong, wealthy, insensitive, and dominant. The book plays into the stereotype that women must look pretty and not think for themselves. “I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”. In a way, The Great Gatsby continually implies that women are nothing but objects to argue over. 

https://youtu.be/ZQHhiZUNM3Q Begin clip at 1:30 to hear Daisy’s “beautiful fool” scene.

(5) Notes on Resilience

The main theme of resilience in the novel stemmed from The Great Gatsby and his self-motivation to live the American dream. Daisy was the embodiment of everything he wanted in life and he was determined to win her. 

On pg. 63 Nick stated, "It was a strange coincidence," I said.

"But it wasn't a coincidence at all."

"Why not?"

"Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay."

He was resilient enough to never give up his dream of reuniting with her and even bought a house across the bay from her in hopes that she'd attend one of his parties. 

Each character in The Great Gatsby showed resilience in their own unique way. 

Nick showed resilience and strength when he realized that the people he surrounded himself with had very poor values. He was a quiet man for the majority of the book but spoke up when he realized something was wrong. “They’re a rotten crowd”, I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together”. He also showed resilience by dumping Jordan for her poor values even though he was “half in love with her”, he did what he knew was right even if it was hard. This takes a lot of strength and resilience. He would rather maintain his self respect than be wealthy. In some odd way Myrtle also shows resilience by going great lengths to be a part of the wealthy culture even when it was proven to be very difficult. Even Daisy showed resilience by bouncing back so quickly when she found out about Tom's affair, even if she was being resilient for all the wrong reasons. 

The concept of resilience can be very loosely linked to many themes in The Great Gatsby. Love is the major theme of the novel and can be connected to resilience solely because of Jay and his efforts to keep his love with Daisy alive. The theme of isolation can also be connected to resilience because everyone in the story was so resilient for the wrong reasons (for wealth or power) and they all ended up dying alone anyways. 

My interpretation of what the author is saying about resilience in people's lives is that it's not always a super positive thing. Although resilience is a great trait to have, being resilient about the wrong thing is simply asking for chaos. 

(4) Novel’s Biographical and Historical Context

The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He wrote many short stories and novels throughout his life with “This Side of Paradise” being the one to make him famous. At the end of the 1920’s he began drinking heavily. He died in 1940 at 44 years old of a heart attack, his final novel was only half finished. Throughout his short life he had many love interests, Ginevra Pirie being the one who inspired Daisy. They shared a love from 1915 - 1917 but it ended when her father told Fitzgerald that “poor boys shouldn’t be marrying rich girls”. This is very similar to how Daisy's family didn’t approve of her and Jay. The Great Gatsby was written / published in 1925. Fitzgerald was about 29 years old when it was written. The novel's time period was set in the summer of 1922 and is based off of the “roaring 20’s” and takes place in the towns of West and East Egg in Long Island. 

(3) Notes About Character Development

What have you learned about the main character(s) from the first third of the novel?

Jay Gatsby 

Gatsby is a wealthy man living in a large mansion in West Egg. He hosts lots of extravagant parties but is an extremely mysterious character as nobody in the town knows where he came from. 

Nick Carraway 

Nick seems to be a quiet man who is an excellent listener which explains why he enjoys narrating and watching conversation more than he likes actually speaking to people.

Daisy Buchanan 

Daisy is introduced as Nick's cousin. She is portrayed as a beautiful woman who begins the book as the ideal woman. She seems like the purest out of all the characters who live her lifestyle. 

How have the main character(s) changed, grown, or revealed themselves in the second third? 

Jay Gatsby 

Jay's character progresses as Nick gets clued in on the fact that Jay worked for a rich family when he was young - this gave him a taste of wealth and was why he was so insistent on getting rich to begin with. It is revealed that he made this money through criminal activity. 

Nick Carraway

Although Nick rarely socializes he still attended plenty of parties and began a friendship with Gatsby. Nick was super intrigued by the elegant lifestyles of those around him. 

Daisy Buchanan

As the story moves along we see that she is less of an angel than she seems. We see that she is very aware of her husband's unfaithfulness but sticks around because of his wealth. 

How have the main character(s) changed, grown, or revealed themselves in the final third? 

Jay Gatsby 

Nearing the end of the novel Nick begins to see through the facade / false image that Gatsby has built for himself. He is shown as an innocent man who is a hopeless romantic for Daisy. He realized that Gatsby was a man who lived in the past and wasn’t able to carry on with his life. *Oftentimes Gatsby's development is shown through Nicks dialogue as he is the narrator.*

Nick Carraway

As the book ends Nick is no longer intrigued by the lifestyle of those around him, he begins to see that Gatsby is obsessed with himself and his past while him and Daisy both are absorbed by wealth. As he realizes his friends aren’t all they seemed to be he begins to miss home in the Midwest.

Daisy Buchanan

In the last few chapters of the book Daisy's real character is shown. In chapter 7 Daisy shows off Pammy treating her like a toy more than a child. Daisy doesnt care about anything but status and herself. This is proven when Daisy kills Myrtle and flees the scene. Did she not care about killing her because she was her husband's mistress? Or was it because she had no status or wealth which made her useless to Daisy. 

(2) Written Reflection On Book Choice

The reason I have chosen to read this book is because it seems to be a classic. I read a summary of the book that stated “the novel tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth”. I was instantly intrigued because I wondered if their love would still be the same after they had inevitably changed so much after growing up. They say money changes people and I wanted to know if that was the case for Gatsby as well. In addition to this, the book is also very highly rated on multiple websites and forums.